A former intelligence official told Fox that investigators think one of the drone’s three major “data streams” began sending back bad information to its US-based operator.
A leading question is whether the bad data caused the drone’s operator to inadvertently land the aircraft in Iran without knowing it was in Iran.
It also raises the possibility that the faulty data stream could have prevented the drone from dumping the intelligence it had collected. When a drone malfunctions, it is programmed to dump data so it does not fall into unfriendly hands.
A former intelligence official told Fox News the CIA’s comprehensive review has been unable to replicate the specific malfunction that brought down the drone in Iran.
Contact was lost with the drone on November 29, Fox news reported. This is the first time the day of the loss was reported. Iran did not announce it had captured the drone until December 4, suggesting it was up to five days before anyone stumbled across the drone in eastern Iran
A congressional official, also familiar with the CIA review, told Fox: “We have looked at this eight ways to Sunday. I can tell you it was a US technical problem. The information [data] was not lining up and it was not the result of Iranian interference or jamming.”
While efforts to reproduce or replicate the malfunction have failed, investigators are now focusing on how to prevent a repeat in the future—but without the drone itself, those efforts have been challenging, to say the least.
While the former intelligence official said the Iranians do not have the ability to integrate the multiple data streams on the drone platform, the loss of the drone could allow Tehran to gather information about materials and hardware. The intelligence data is thought to be encrypted and not easily accessed, the official told Fox news.
The Islamic Republic continues to tout the capture of the drone as a huge coup for itself. A full-scale mockup of the drone was put on display at Azadi Square in Tehran for the events Saturday marking the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution. And state television announced in a 50-second spot that it would be airing a documentary “soon” on the capture of drone.